Human Rights Council to hold special session on Friday to discuss Lebanon

9 August 2006

With a quarter of Lebanon’s population forced to flee their homes and violence claiming lives daily in the conflict between Hizbollah and Israel, the United Nations Human Rights Council will hold a special session on Friday to discuss the worsening situation in the war-ravaged country.

The President of the Council decided to convene the special session in response to a request from Tunisia on behalf of the Group of Arab States and the Organization of the Islamic Conference, which was supported in total by 16 Member States, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said in a press release today.

Under the UN resolution that created the Council, to replace the much-criticized Human Rights Commission, it states that a special session shall be held when needed at the request of a member “with the support of one-third of the membership of the Council.”

The request for the special session was supported by the following Member States: Algeria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, China, Cuba, Indonesia, Jordan, Malaysia, Morocco, Pakistan, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia.

The Human Rights Council held its first session from 19 to 30 June, and then its first special session on 5 and 6 July on the situation in the occupied Palestinian territory.